Sunday, July 26, 2009

I'm back and what an experience visiting China has been. Initially I decided to go because of the Solar eclipse, it didn't take long before I was forgetting what the main focus was as well as what it was slowly becoming, a sensory delight.

Touching the Great Wall Of China, smelling incense in the Jade Buddha Temple, walking in the Forbidden City seeing up close and personal the Terra -Cotta Warriors and hearing the chatter of a thousand voices in Tiananmen Square on a Saturday. I took the above image while our tour driver was taking a shortcut down the back-roads where the common people live, shot through the window, says a lot, a part of China we never toured but through the lens I was able to capture a moment in time.

Coming into China is an eyeopener. Right off the plane you follow signs that have arrows and say baggage, they basically just guide you to numerous checkpoints where you will be asked a series of questions and asked to show your passport, oh, and walk through a temperature sensor. Not once but twice the person right in front of me was whisked away to a waiting tent and to what looked like health officials, probably checking for signs of the H1N1 virus. She was with a group of teenagers, they reassured her they would wait, I never saw the group from then on.

There are numerous guards that line "baggage lane",(as I like to call it). they're just off to the side, and everyone is wearing protective masks, very intimidating to say the least. At the final checkpoint, there was a yellow line where you had to stop before you proceeded through to be asked the same questions and once again show your passport and go through another temperature sensor, I guess I was a little over the yellow line and a security/police/army type scary guy with a mask rushes in and shouts something in Chinese and pushes me back.......well I didn't know whether to shit, salute, or go into shock, come to think of it I probably did a little of each, now don't forget I had just come off an eleven hour fight from Vancouver, I wasn't a happy camper or feeling 100%, couple that with the fact that I was one of the lucky ones to be selected for a pat down at the Vancouver International Airport Security Check-In , and I mean pat down, hands down the back and front of my pants, told to assume the position and checked again, at least he thanked me for my cooperation.

After the final checkpoint you see another baggage sign with an arrow pointing to an escalator, you take this down, not to your waiting baggage but to a train station where you wait for a train that will take you to another building to finally get your baggage, congrats you pass and don't go to quarantine.

Then there is the matter of blocked social networking sites, stuff we take for granted like blogger and twitter. Another reminder that Bob wasn't in Kansas anymore. Of course this story has a happy ending , I made it home alive and well, the planes didn't crash and burn, I no longer have a fear of flying and I had a most excellent adventure. I even got lost in Shanghai while traveling down some back roads, finally got my bearings and made it back to the hotel.... again adding to the adventure.

I have lots of stories waiting to be told. I took over 1,200 images and 6 hours of video, but for now I will leave you with a video I took of the blackness that fell on Shanghai during the Total Solar Eclipse, we didn't get to see actual totality but we did experience the premature night fall which was quite the experience in itself.

So glad you made it home happy and fulfilled Bob, & healthy as well! And it must have been quite the adventure :) And I'll be reading everything you have to share, photos, and videos and stories - grat stuff my friend!

Hi Bob! I didn't know you made your first passport just to travel to Shanghai to watch the eclipse.. ;)

It's a pity the sky was clouded and blocked the sun.. Couldn't see the sun through your video but I saw the pics you took.. It was awesome.. Even though, you didn't get to see the whole thing, I'm sure the experience was good enough for you..

Hi! I'm green with envy! Although you sounded a bit jaded on your arrival and going on what you had to go though to get out of the airport it could have been much worse. They could have strip searched you and taken your rectal temperature!

Thanks Anna, I like your new avatar. Yes no problem with flying now, after you get used to it you just want to get to where you are going as fast as possible. Thanks for noticing the first image, it is one of my favorites , just something about it.\m/\m/

Bob, what a MAGNIFICENT post!!! Beautiful photos and great travel story telling. Sorry you had that pat down experience and had a shove from the line. Yikes!

This adventure would make an awesome book. Can't wait to hear more.

I heard on the radio two days ago a group of teenage tourists were being held in China because of the virus. I wonder if this was them? I think four tested positive at that time. I was wondering if they would miss the opening of school and still be in China at that time.